Animesh PradhanAIR 2 · CSE 2023 · 56 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening · a figure
With 35 Cr of Indians under multidimensional below poverty line & 16% multidimensionally poor, minimum wage has failed to provide a life of dignity to workers, necessitating a shift to living wage.
Body · points and prose
- Benefits in the shift
- (1) Increase in purchasing power of the workers
- (2) Increase in savings & investments leading to higher economic growth
- (3) Improvement in human capital, focus on education & health
- (4) Reduction on dependency on government for subsidy (currently 4 lakh crore on subsidy)
- (5) Dignity of labour improves
- Constraints in adoption of living wage
- (1) Additional cost shall be passed on to the consumer dampening their purchasing power.
- (2) Capital productivity in industries decline with hampering in their cost of production.
- (3) Micro and small enterprises shall be affected the most, the ones with low safety net (Ex 6.3 Crore MSMEs have no formal credit).
- (4) Multiplicity in wage regimes - Ex state decided wage rates, MGNREGA rate etc.
- (5) lack of Objectivity in determination of 'living wage' - Ex variation in conception on poverty line.
- (6) living wage depends on living styles based on cities, families, culture, size of family etc.
- Mahendra Dev Committee to link MGNREGA wages with CPI-AL
- steps for smooth transition
- Periodic updation of wage rates, linking it with inflation.
- Reforms in labour laws, ex Code on Minimum Wages, 2019 to be given more teeth for execution
- labour productivity with decreasing ICOR and skill development.
- Schemes like One district One Product, UDYAM (MSME), RAISE (gig economy), SVANIDHI - for robust labour ecosystem
Close · a summary
Hence, India to achieve $5 trillion economy is a dream looking closer than expected, but purchasing power & dignity of labour must be improved.